Morgan,
Daniel
(1856-1928), landowner and local politician, was born in 1856,
the fourth child of George Morgan (1830-1901) and Anne Gaynor
(1834-1898). His grandfather, Edward Morgan (1801-1860) of
Glanworth, Cork, was an Irish pioneer who by 1845 had already settled
in the county of San Andrés
de Giles in the Argentine province of Buenos Aires. There he
began acquiring the large tracts of land that became the sites
of the estancias 'Los Tocayos' and 'La Margarita' at
the borders with the county of San Antonio de Areco.

A member of the Radical Party, Daniel Morgan was a
significant political figure. He completed three terms as Town
Councillor and was Municipal Intendant of the county of San
Andrés de Giles between the years 1893 and 1905. During this
period he assumed the role of Intendant six times. According
to the San Andrés de Giles historian Secundino García, Morgan
governed the county for a total of sixty-two months.

His administrative management of the Intendancy was notable
for his undertaking of the beautification of the parks and
squares of the city of San Andrés de Giles, including the installation of monuments and the repair of
existing stonemasonry. He also improved street lighting by
replacing tallow candle streetlamps with a large quantity of
kerosene lamps which were lit at night. Morgan took a strong
interest in the care and maintenance of rural roads and the
construction of bridges, among them a cement bridge over the
Sauce stream, close to the rural village of Cucullú in the
county of San Andrés de Giles, facilitating the passage of
carriages and horse-riders.

During his administration the roofs and the floors of the San
Andrés Apóstol parish church of San Andrés de Giles were
restored. To this end, Morgan formed a special mission headed
by the parish priest Fr. Fidel Mazzei, which had as members
many prominent citizens of the town and countryside, among
them the young Jorge Morgan, Daniel’s son. Intendant Morgan
made a personal contribution to the mission of one thousand
pesos.

On relinquishing his post as Federal Auditor of the Province of
Buenos Aires in 1894, Lucio Vicente López, grandson of the
author of the Argentine national anthem, sent a note of
congratulation to Daniel Morgan for his efficient work in the
administration of the Giles commune.

Daniel Morgan and his wife María [María Ana] Tormey
(1863-1921) had twelve children, among them Jerónimo Morgan
(b. 1891) and Jorge José Morgan (b. 1889). The sons were, like
their father, prominent politicians of the Radical Party and
Municipal Intendants of San Andrés de Giles. According to
Secundino García’s research, the Morgan family, including
Daniel, Jorge and Jerónimo, governed the county of San Andrés
de Giles for a total of over eleven years.

In Villa Ruiz, a district of the county of San Andrés de
Giles, a street bears Morgan’s name. This indicates that the
Morgan lands are to be found close to this village. The
estancia where Daniel Morgan and his family lived was part
of a vast rural property known as the 'La Paterna' estancia,
founded by the Irish pioneer Darby [Jerónimo] Tormey in the
mid-nineteenth century. Together with the section inherited by
María Morgan (née Tormey), it formed the 'Las Marías',
called such because the first name of many women in the family
was María.